Porous rubberized fabric and method of producing same



' particularly applicable Patented June 11, 1935 POROUS RUBBERIZED FABRIC signor to Xetal Products Limited AND THOD OF PRODUCING SAME tenborough, England, as-

near Nottingham, England Long Eaton,

N0 Drawing. Application February 14, 1934, Serial No. 711,279. In Great Britain Septem-, ber 14, 1933 3 Claims. (01.154-40) This invention comprises improvements in porous rubberize ducing same and production of clothing such Accordingly method of producing porous rubberi ing the surface of at with vulcanizing rubb pieces face to the rubber latex has uniting the fabric p d fabrics and in methods of prohas for its principal object the fabrics .of this kind which are for use for articles of as corsets, brassieres and the like.

the prese a composite elastic and c which consists in sprayleast two pieces of fabric er latex, placing the fabric with the surfaces to which been applied in contact and ieces by the application of zed fabri face pressure thereto.

It will thus fabric is used be seen that when the completed for articles of clothing the rubber cannot come into contact with the flesh of the wearer and fu may be of different colours.

In carryin two concentration,

rthermore the various laminations materials and/or of varying the present invention into effect stretchable pieces of fabric, and more particularly but not necessari sprayed, preferably while gree of tensio li, with rubber latex of any known vulcanizing type but 1y knitted fabric, are under a suitable depreferably' of 50% to and united by the application of pressure also preferably while under tension.

By the expression meant either a latex curing type capable mal temperature an a latex of which the canized by subjectin A suitable mix for To a 60% solutl add zinc oxide, z'in sulphur (preferabl portions of 5%, 1

vulcanizing rubber latex" is of a pre-vulcanized or selfof being vulcanized at norrubber deposit may be vulg same to suitable heat.

the treatment is as follows: on of stabilized rubber latex c diethyldithiocarbamate and y in colloidal form) in the proand 2.5% respectively of the dry rubber contents of the said solution.

This mix is, asitistobeu which for parti ly' alkaline wit specific gravit Immediate] been sprayed the two faces posited in con owever, only given as an example derstood thatany suitable ultramixture may be diluted with water cular purposes may be made slighth liquid ammonia preferably .880

y and preferably not exceeding 2%. y after the pieces of fabric have they are placed face to face with on which the latex has been detact with one another and whilst nt invention provides a d atmospheric pressure, or-

the latex is still wet or tacky and the fabric is maintained under suitable tension a light pressure of say 5 to 10 lbs. pe the composite fabric. to unite the two p may here be stated the fabric which porosity and appe Subsequent to laminated fabric th by being passed 0 heated atmosphere It a mix of the type heat treatment may b hour at approximat mately one hour at a If desired however obviated by employin curing latex for unitin r square inch is applied to This pressure is sufiicient ieces of treated fabric, and it that when too great a pressure is employed globules of latex are forced through destroy or tend to destroy the arance of the completed fabric. the foregoing treatment the formed is submitted to heat ver heated rollers or into a for vulcanizing the latex.

previously named is used the e for approximately half an ely 100 0., or for approxipproximately 0.; the time and temperature dependin g on circumstances.

this heat treatment may be g a pre-vulcanized or selfg the pieces of fabric.

After the latex has been vulcanized the laminated fabric may be subjected to heat and/or pressure without in any way deleteriously affecting the porosity of the composite fabric, providmg always that the sure to which the lam temperature and/or presinated fabric is subjected is not sufficient to affect the base fabric itself.

It will of course be three pieces of fabric appreciated that if desired may be united by means of two intermediate layers of rubber latex or that the number of layers as required.

' Turning now to th is maintained, becau si tile fabrics and/or of to one 'of the faces is applied in the form of and does not penetrate pressure to unite the pound or laminated stretched fabric while sion;

of fabric may be increased e question of porosity, this se the base fabric is tenoned or stretched'during the union of the texthe application of thelatex thereof, because the latex a more or less fine mist the fabric, and because textile pieces into a com fabric is applied to the wet, and while under ten- The fabric is preferably stretched in a direction at right angles to th The amount of str mately two thirds mum stretch than e direction of the stitch wales. etch is advantageously approxior three quarters of the maxican and a certain degree of be imparted to the fabric, stretch is maintained permanent in the fabric after treatment.

I have discovered th at if a stretchable fabric,

such as a knitted fabric, is treated with a rubber latex as described,

tent less than the per while stretching to an ex missible stretch incident to ting, maintain the goods in stretched condition. Thus, if a knitted fabric is being treated and is stretched transversely of the wales thereof to an extent somewhat less than the total permissible stretch, and is maintained in this stretched condition, when the latex sets the resulting fabric maintains a. certain amount of stretch transversely of the wales; and if now further tension be applied to the goods made up of such treated fabric, as in the use thereof, in a direction transverse to the wales, the goods will yield and stretch because the stretch during treatment with the latex is only partial and the rubber deposit yields and will stretch with said further stretching of the goods. Again, if the goods be subjected to a tension in the direction of the wales it will stretch in this direction also, since the knitted loops will then be pulled back to their original, normal position, or approximately so, by this stretching of the goods in the direction of the wales, a corresponding contraction transversely of the wales taking place. Thus by the method of producing the complete fabric which has been described, there is produced a goods or composite fabric which is porous, rubberized, having fabric-exposed surfaces and with the capacity of freely stretching both transversely and longitudinally.

As has already been pointed out, the production of a laminated goods, with fabric material exterior surfaces and a uniting rubber interior and stretchable as described, which is highly poroussubstantially as porous as are the textile fabrics employed and little, if at all, diminished in this respect by reason of the application of the rubber constituent-is one of the very important features of the present invention; and this feature, whichI believe to be new in the art, is attained by spraying the rubber latex upon the surface or surfaces of the textile fabric or fabrics employed in the form of a mist, which does not imperviously coat such fabric but leaves it porous, though carrying sufficient rubber for the purposes already stated.

The treatment of the fabric may be either intermitt ent or continuous. For example, comparatively small pieces can be individually treated while being held in a stretched condition in a suitable frame or the like. Alternatively, in dealing with comparatively long piecesof fabric same may be taken from a rollor other supply and intermittently traversed under suitable tension so as to bring, successive portions of the fabric into position for spraying, at which position the fabric is stretched at right angles to the direction of traverse by parallelly disposed gripping and stretching members. Two pieces or lengths of fabric sostretched and sprayed are superimposed 'the nature of the fabric, the latex will, upon setand lightly pressed together while under tension by calendering rollers or otherwise while wet or tacky. The treatment of fabric lengths may, however, be accomplished while the fabric is being continuously traversed.

Preferably the latex is applied to the fabric through the medium of pressure guns which are positioned a suitable, distance therefrom, say from three to four feet away' from the fabric. The cross sectional diameter of the nozzles of the guns is as small as conveniently possible for example inch and gthe pressure-is preferably inthe neighborhood of 35 lbs. per square inch.

If conditions permit the latexing process may, as aforesaid, be continuous; the base fabrics being traversed in front of the latex guns and being thereafter united by the application of light pressure as previously described.

I claim:-

1. The herein described method of producing a porous laminated fabric, which consists in applying to a surface of a textile fabric, which is stretchable under tension to a much greater extent in one direction-than it is in a direction transverse thereto, a rubber latex in the form of a fine spray, allowing said latex to set while the fabric is under tension and stretched in the direction of its greatest extensibility, but to an extent less than its permissible stretch, superposing the same upon another piece of stretchable fabric with the latex between them, and finally pressing the said pieces together, the latex serving to unite them and maintain the fabric stretched as described, without substantially reducing the porosity of the laminated fabric produced, such finished fabric being stretchable in dual directions and having exposed textile surfaces and rubber interior.

2. The method stated in claim 1, when the sec ond named fabric is of like stretchable nature to the first named fabric, is likewise stretched and has applied to one of its surfaces rubber latex in the form of a fine spray, the two latex-carrying surfaces of the fabrics being in contact when the pieces are pressed together and united.

.3. A highly porous laminated fabric, composed of a plurality of pieces of knitted fabrics united together by the direct deposit of solids of a rubber latex, applied to surfaces of the fabric, the pieces of material being maintained in a stretched condition in one direction-abut less than the permissible'stretch of such pieces-by .the said deposit,

and the said laminated fabric being porous and capable of stretching under tension applied thereto in one direction and also of stretching under tension applied thereto in directions at right angles to said one direction.

- PERCY HERBERT HEAD. 

